Cherry Blossoms Wither and Fade
by AvataraElements
Summary: Byakuya and Hisana: Story of how they met, fell in love, married and lost eachother. Please R&R!
1. The Inuzuri

**Cherry Blossoms Wither and Fade**

The streets were dark, the air heavy and the weight of Rukia on Hisana's back was unbearable. She needed food, and some water but had not a coin on her nor had she had she held one for over the past days. Tired, Hisana shifted Rukia around and then gently set the bundled up infant on the ground, the child's head propped up on the wall of a hut. Small amethyst shiny eyes opened and a smile played across the young girl's face.

"No, Rukia, I am sorry. I cannot play with you anymore." Hisana smiled, a slight curve in her pale lips, so slight that one might mistake it for a grimace. Crystal tears began to flow down her cheeks as she reached down and placed a delicate beaded hairpin in the folds of Rukia's carry sac. She stayed squatted for a moment and kissed the soft white spot between Rukia's large purple eyes.

"I am sorry, dear sister…so sorry." Hisana leapt up, startling Rukia, and bounded away into the darkness. As soon as the sound of her footsteps died away, all that was left was the quiet night, the echoes of dogs barking somewhere in the distance, and the tiny child with purple eyes screaming for the sister that she would never see again.

The walkways of the Rukongi were laden with mud; so much that Hisana's ankles were covered with the filthy slime. She pressed on, from shop to shop, in search of a job that could pay for some food and maybe a little time by a warm, dry fire. The bell rang on the door as Hisana stepped into a warm bakery. She looked around and just as her weight shifted as she turned towards the counter, something stiff and hard jabbed her harshly between her shoulder bones.

"Owww! What-"

"Scum!" an old woman's voice rasped, "I just cleaned the floors and now you have tracked in more sludge! Get out, you filthy brat!"

"Ma'am, I need a Jo-!"

"Job? Well maybe I'll consider it when you are clean and don't smell like the vermin that roam the streets! Come back when your not so filthy, wench!" With that, the old woman opened the door and Have Hisana a shove with the broom again. Hisana fell and landed with her leg splayed in a painful angle, her body helpless in a puddle of mud. Tears and filth began to mix with rain as she heard the old woman's cackle behind her and the sound of the door sliding shut with a sharp _WHACK!_

She closed her eyes and tried to pull herself up but her twisted leg gave way and she slipped once again into the slippery mush. She hunched her back with helplessness and shame when, suddenly a gentile voice called out to her.

"Are you alright, milady?" Hisana looked up, her deep purple eyes widening with complete astonishment. The voice that had called to her belonged to a handsome man in his late 50's. But, it was not his handsome features and clean robes that caught her eye, it was the white triangular hairclips that ribbed his head: the mark of the Kuchiki Noble Family. Without warning, Hisana slumped down, her body gone limp and unconscious from exhaustion and weakness.


	2. The Family of Flowers

CHAPTER 2

**The Family of Flowers**

Warm fresh air blew over the thin cotton sheets and tickled Hisana's cheeks. She opened her eyes to see a ceiling made of fine oak. A faint hint of sandalwood and cherry blossoms wafted into the room on the delicate breeze. The room was calm and still, the green walls soft in the morning light and the sounds of morning doves and sparrows reached Hisana's ear.

Suddenly it all came back to her: the mud, the shop lady,…and the noble. She sat up and looked around the room frantically. It was well kept and the smell of the fresh tatami mats indicated that it had not been long since they had been put down.

Then Hisana realized that the worn soft cloth of her beige yukata was not on her back or covering her arms, but that a soft white silk robe covered her thin, undernourished frame.

"Ah! Milady, you are awake!" a voice said. Hisana turned in surprise to see the man that had called out to her in the streets when she collapsed. Quickly, she scrambled out off of the sleeping at and made a hasty bow. A gentle hand patted her head as two white tabi socks came into the view of her downcast eyes. She had already looked him in the face once and felt terrible shame in doing so as it was not her place but she could not protest when two fingers drew her chin up to meet eyes with the noble.

His eyes were a deep grey and she could see the pain and suffering he had gone through all covered up with a cheery glint that masked those times. His gaze was gentle and she found her breathing to calm and her wildly beating heart to slow to a soft thumping.

"Ah, young one, you have good manners. But, in the state that you are in there is no need for formalities. Lie down and rest." Hisana nodded then stretched out her legs under the thin sheets once again. The man resumed his standing position until Hisana had pulled the sheets back over herself and then sat cross-legged at her side. He let out a sigh as his old limbs creaked and shifted under his weight. "Now, what is your name, child?" his voice was calm and no treachery could be found in the gentle rolling of his words.

"H-Hisana, my lord." She stuttered.

"Hmmm…Hisana…Hi…sana, what a noble name: the everlasting sun. Why was such a young girl like you scrounging around Inuzuri for jobs?" His eyebrows rose up and he gave a questioning look.

"I needed food, my lord. I have nothing more than the clothes on my back." Hisana didn't mention Rukia and fingered the hem of the white yukata.

"Well, Miss Hisana, when I saw that woman throw you out I could not bring myself to leave such a helpless girl on the streets with a twisted leg." Only now did Hisana realize her leg was bandaged. "Now I know that you were looking for some place to work. Being head of the Kuchiki family, I do not usually do this, but since you are so skinny and your health is undernourished, I will allow you to stay until you have reached good health. Then I shall negotiate with you where you plan to go."

Hisana's eyes brightened and she nodded her head, "I cannot possibly show the that you have bestowed upon my heart, Master…ah…umm." Her cheeks flushed and she averted his gaze.

"Ha! How rude of me! I am Satchime Kuchiki, head of the Kuchiki family!" Hisana smiled. "Thanks you, Master Satchime!"

A figure passed the doorway and Satchime yelled out toward the shadow illuminated by the morning sun as it moved past the rice paper doors. "Oy, Byakuya! Come here!" The footsteps stopped then a deep gentle voice called from outside the room, "Otoosama, I am very busy, gomen!" Then the man's footsteps proceeded down the walkway.

"Master Satchime, who was that man?" Hisana said, but then clasp her hand to her mouth as she had spoken out of term. "Ah, my son, Byakuya, heir to the head of the family. He is quite busy these days. You will see him about the grounds.

Hisana sighed and her vision began to blur. "Miss Hisana, please rest some more." Master Satchime patted Hisana's head then got up with a deep groan before he turned and padded out of the room. She closed her eyes and the world once again slipped from her grasp.

END OF CHAPTER

So, ya the second chapter….note that I made up Hisana's last name and the name of Byakuya's Father! The name INUZURI refers to a poor district of the Rukongai.

BLEACH BELONGS TO TITE KUBO! BYAKUYA AND HISANA ARE HIS! Sitchime is mine (OC)!

Thanks for reading and please review!


	3. Cobalt Eyes

**CHAPTER 3**

**Cobalt Eyes**

A week later Hisana was 10 pounds heavier and had healthily blushed cheeks and bright eyes. Her energy had peaked and her body just glowed with healthiness. She had been given rein of the Kuchiki house and grounds so she could start to learn its walkways and halls. Satchime had granted her a job as a maid to tend to the house and the gardens. The head of the maids and servants was introduced to her three days after she had been brought into the noble house.

A bright bustling woman she was! Her name was Rezu Inuruzu. She was, Hisana guessed, around the age of 35 and her stomach was round and swollen with baby. Rezu's cheeks were bright cheery rouge color and the warm amber eyes always sparkled with life from under her thick lashes as she hefted her swollen frame around the grounds.

Hisana instantly fell in love with the head maid and enjoyed her times walking through the house, after her leg had healed, and learning from the ever so talkative Rezu about how to clean and organize the various household objects and possessions of the nobles.

Once, on one of these times, about two weeks into her welcome to the household, Hisana and Rezu were walking the halls when Rezu's laboring footsteps stopped in front of a large sliding door.

"Hisana-chan, this is the Lord Kuchiki Byakuya's office. You may only enter when the door is opened or you are summoned. Any other time, this room is off limits, even for cleaning. His Lord's room is that door next to the small guest bedroom. Now, Lord-" she was cut off by a deep voice that called through the shut door.

"Rezu, you may come in. There is something I need you to take care of." His voice was soft and gentile, each word sounding carefully articulated and thoughtful.

Rezu huffed, "Hai, Lord Kuchiki!" she slowly slid the door open and stepped into the bright room. Hisana hid herself behind the door and only allowed herself to peer around the wood frame into the noble's office.

The walls were a pale cream color that glowed in the sun seeping into the room fro the wide-open window in the back and the tatami matting was edged with a silvery-blue silk on the floor. A large cherry-wood desk sat in the center of the room with two dark blue silk cushions set out neatly in front, one of which Rezu occupied as she kneeled and spoke to the noble. But the beauty of the room was not what made Hisana's breath catch in her throat. It was the man sitting at the dark desk, speaking to Rezu in that soft deep voice. He was strikingly handsome, one of the most beautiful faced she had ever seen. His skin was smooth and had not even the slightest wrinkle, scar, or blemish on it. The nose in the middle of his face was just the right size and bellow were two pale lips that moved slowly and carefully as he spoke.

Then she found herself looking at his eyes. The deep cobalt orbs glistened from his almond-shaped lids as he blinked thoughtfully, his long lashes flickering.

Suddenly she found the deep blue eyes looking into hers, piercing through her, and she leapt back behind the door, squeezing her lips together and slapping her hand over her mouth to suppress her squeal of astonishment and surprise. She found it hard to hold back the pinkish warmth from creeping up her cheeks, ever so slightly red. Hisana squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched up her nose making a nasty face. When she parted her lashes, Rezu's two amber eyes looked back at her.

"Are you alright, Hisana-chan?" Hisana could only nod as Rezu huffed and raised one eyebrow skeptically.

"Well, anyway, Master Satchime's father is on her way here, so I must prepare for his arrival. You have a while before lunch, so just wander around and get familiar with the place some more. I'll find you latter and then I can resume our tour."

A maid down the hallway called to Rezu, "Hai! I'm coming!" she called back. She turned and then proceeded down the hall, one heavy step at a time.

"Arigato, Rezu-chan!" Hisana called out and bowed. Rezu waved a hand dismissively and yelled over her shoulder, "Save the formality for the nobles!"

"Hai. Gomen!" Hisana almost bowed again the remembered what Rezu had said. She straitened up her small back and smiled. She was free for a while and she only wanted to go one place: the gardens.

As the small woman strode down the pathway to the gardens, a pair of deep blue eyes followed the black head bobbing up and down, catching the soft glimmer of purple as she faced the sun.

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Sorry for the wait but schoolwork was piled up and needed to do it plus I hit a stall for a few days so…hope you enjoyed! Next chapter, they will meet! Will post next chapter soon! Please R&R!**


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